Art firm pictures itself opening 10 new stores; in association with RBS.

Byline: By Andrew Mernin

A COMPANY which makes works of art out of photographs has revealed plans to open 10 new stores this year by raising funds through a public listing.

Transform Your Images (TYI), which puts photographs on to canvas, currently has North-East stores in Whitley Bay, Newcastle, Sunderland as well as two sites in Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

And now the firm, which started life in Whitley Bay in 2005, has unveiled ambitious expansion plans to open 10 stores across the country this year.

The company is in advanced talks to launch sites in Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham which are expected to open in the first quarter of 2008. The business aims to raise pounds 500,000 through a listing on the Plus market to fund the expansion.

TYI director Andrew Snell said his products were becoming increasingly popular and old particularly well over the Christmas period.

He said: "So many people these days have pictures they want to keep in a permanent highly presentable format and the digital enhancement and canvas finish means that we give them a piece of high quality art that would look good in any surrounding."

TYI will join recently Plus-listed North-East firms Lovely Bubbly, which imports Champagne and software business Data SMS on the market.

Andrew Wilson of unw LLP, which is advising TYI on its listing, said: "Plus now has over 200 small and mid-cap companies listed on it and offers a relatively low cost alternative to AIM for some companies.

"The higher profile listed companies are those owning Arsenal and Rangers football clubs but the fact that two local entrepreneurial companies have listed recently and another is preparing to is indicative of how readily this can be achieved." TYI was launched in February 2005 and has since received pounds 150,000 financial backing from Roy Stanley, chief executive of electric vehicles maker Tanfield and accountant Keith Robinson.

The company has stores on Park View in Whitley Bay, Eldon Square, Newcastle, The Bridges, in Sunderland and The MetroCentre in Gateshead as well as a sites in Burton-on-Trent and Derby.

The firm uses the latest technology to take photos or drawings and digitally manipulate on screen to the customer's specification before printing them on canvas. It also runs photograph studio sessions and sells its own range of pictures.